White House Responds to Media Claims It Hid Science About Global Warming

Last week, the Bush administration released a report warning of the potential dangers of global warming, except there wasn't anything new in it. However, the timing of the release was seen as an act done so begrudgingly - since the Bush administration has previously resisted efforts to propagate climate change alarmism.

"For the first time, the Bush administration is conceding what most scientists have said for years - that global warming is having an impact on just about every aspect of the way we live," ABC "World News" anchor Charles Gibson said on May 29. "The government report was mandated by an act of Congress, but the White House has fought its release since 2004 and released it now only because a federal judge ordered it."

The Associated Press admitted the report had no new science in it, but they quoted Rick Piltz, director of Climate Science Watch, whose organization advances global warming activism.

"It's [the release] totally begrudging," Piltz told the AP on May 29. "It's important the government go on record honestly acknowledging this stuff."

However, the administration's move wasn't a concession to global warming alarmism portrayed in news reports. According to a White House spokeswoman, the timing of the release of the report was simply a "magnanimous" act.

"Prior to the lawsuit, the Administration's plan was to meet the statute's requirements for climate science information by delivering a series of topical reports," Kristin Scuderi, a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, told the Business & Media Institute on June 2. "Recognizing that not everyone wants to read multiple reports, and to remove any doubt over the Administration's intent to fully comply with the law, we decided to also prepare a single, integrated report. In short, we did not want a legal controversy to continue to detract from the substantive science."